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Most IT pros don't fear losing their jobs to the cloud

IT professionals may even want to prepare themselves to convert their enterprise IT infrastructures into private and/or hybrid clouds, and to take on the role of provisioning cloud services for end users and business partners. So finds the Future Proofing the Cloud survey of 225 people including IT professionals, analysts and media conducted as part of the Cloud Leadership Forum held in Santa Clara, Calif., this week.

The survey asked attendees to divine the future of cloud computing by agreeing or disagreeing with 46 predictive statements. The predictions with the most consensus were those that said that adoption of cloud computing would boom in the next few years. The top prophecy of the bunch said, "By 2015, at least 30% of Fortune 1000 enterprises will deploy at least one business critical system in the cloud." Some 81% of respondents agreed.
                        

Gartner: IT should be planning, moving to private clouds

ORLANDO -- If speedy IT services are important, businesses should be shifting from traditional computing into virtualization in order to build a private cloud that, whether operated by their IT department or with help from a private cloud provider, will give them that edge.

That was the message from Gartner analysts this week, who sought to point out paths to the private cloud to hundreds of IT managers attending the Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Management Summit 2011 in Orlando. Transitioning a traditional physical server network to a virtualized private cloud should be done with strategic planning in capacity management and staff training.

"IT is not just the hoster of equipment and managing it. Your job is delivery of service levels at cost and with agility," said Gartner analyst Thomas Bittman. He noted virtualization is the path to that in order to able to operate a private cloud where IT services can be quickly supplied to those in the organization who demand them, often on a chargeback basis.

Microsoft: Cloud computing won't hurt us

Microsoft Server & Tools chief Satya Nadella says Microsoft will leverage the cloud the same way it leveraged the PC

Cloud computing is widely perceived as a threat to Microsoft, because the maker of Windows and Microsoft Office earns the lion's share of its money selling licenses for packaged software.

But Microsoft's new Server & Tools President, in his first public appearance since taking the top spot, said cloud computing is another opportunity Microsoft can exploit just as it did with the birth of the PC.

Federal CIO Vivek Kundra, Driving Force Of Federal Cloud, To Vacate Post

                       
Federal CIO Vivek Kundra, a major force behind the nation's push toward cloud computing technologies, will leave his position as the country's technology chief.

"Vivek Kundra, the first-ever federal chief information officer, is planning to leave the White House in August," political news organization POLITICO reported Thursday morning. "Kundra, who has held the position for two-and-a-half years, is leaving the administration to go to Harvard University, the sources said, although it's unclear if he'll be teaching or taking a more research-oriented post."

'Impending security standoff' between customers and cloud providers

The majority of cloud computing providers allocate just 10 per cent or less of IT resources to security, according to a survey from CA and security research firm the Ponemon Institute.
The research showed that less than half of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that "security is a priority". The study found that cloud providers are more focused on delivering benefits such as reduced costs and speed of deployment, rather than security.
Oracle Seeks Stiff Penalties from Google


That reverberating scream you hear, the one that sounds like a wounded water buffalo beset by a pack of rabid hyenas, is Google after it saw how much Oracle expects in damages from its patent and copyright suit over Android's alleged misuse of Java.

Once it got the figure Google immediately started the legal wheels turning to try to get the estimate made by Oracle's expert thrown out as "speculative and arbitrary," full of "fundamental and disqualifying" legal errors before the case gets to trial on October 31 (Halloween, how perfect).

iCloud Announced

The concept is very simple: Have all your devices sync automatically over the air, using the cloud as the intermediary. One account covers as many as 10 devices (including iPhones, iPads, iPod Touches, Macs, in some cases PCs, and in some cases Apple TVs), and it handles contacts, calendars, email, music, e-books, e-magazines, documents, photos, and even apps. Make a change or purchase on one device, all your devices have it. Have all your key data backed up automatically as well.

Survey confirms that users will adopt the cloud even if IT doesn't

According to PC Magazine's Samara Lynn, "out of the 573 C-level executives, business unit leaders, and IT decision-makers surveyed, three key indicators of the maturing of cloud computing were made apparent: businesses have increased investments in resources to secure, manage, and support cloud computing; there is growing adoption and preference for private clouds; and a healthy interest in cloud computing for revenue-generating services." This is a 23 percent growth since 2009, according to the survey.

But all is not well in the world of cloud computing. Many users find that they have to purchase and use cloud computing services without the consent or knowledge of corporate IT. In many instances, corporate IT has been pushing back on cloud computing. The use of cloud resources is really the departments trying to expedite the automation of some business processes without having to wait for IT to respond. And according to the survey, there are no penalties for a cloud without permission. So go for it -- you won't get fired.

HP sets $2B in financing to speed cloud adoption

HP CEO Leo Apotheker announced Tuesday that the company is setting aside $2 billion for customers to help buy its cloud systems.

Irv Rothman, who heads HP Financial Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, said it will use financial tools, such as sale and lease back, where HP buys a customer's assets and then leases them back for a specific period of time. It monetizes those assets and provides customers with a pool of cash, he said.